GOOD SIGNJapan’s ‘de facto’ embassy name change could signal a shift in Taipei-Tokyo relations as the nations traded US$57.9 billion last year, and ‘times have changed’
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 29, 2016
By: Chang Mao-sen / Staff reporter in Tokyo, with CNA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed support for the planned renaming of the
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying yesterday expresses China’s discontent during a news conference in Beijing with the planned name change of the Interchange Association, Japan, effective from Sunday. Photo: CNA
Interchange Association, Japan to the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association from Sunday.
The association represents Japan’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of bilateral diplomatic ties, which ended in 1972. Taiwan also set up a de facto embassy with an ambiguous title in Tokyo, called the Association of East Asian Relations, which was renamed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan in 1992.
The ministry said that the new name reflects the business activities carried out by the association and is a positive development in Taiwan-Japan relations.
Saying that the two nations have become closer in recent years, the ministry added that Japan is Taiwan’s third-largest trade partner, while Taiwan is Japan’s fourth-largest. Bilateral trade totaled US$57.9 billion last year.
In addition, there were 5.3 million travelers between Taiwan and Japan last year and that number could surpass 6 million this year, the ministry said. [FULL STORY]
